Happy Birthday MJ and Nickers!

We celebrated Masin's 5th birthday and Nick's 4th birthday up on Whidbey.  The theme was an Olympic theme as the opening ceremonies were that evening.  It was a great day of cousin time!  Rock painting, fishing at the docks, cupcakes, and beach time. Happy Birthday - we love you!

On of the highlights of the weekend, for me, was watching the kids interact with one another.  They took turns being "buddies" with different cousins.  Masin and Andy, Andy and Nick, Masin and Katie.  Even though they are different ages, it's so great to see them play well together. 

In honor of the Olympics, I asked each cousins to choose one sport that they would like to compete in the Olympics some day:

Callie:  Gymnastics

Robbie:  Baseball

Nick:  Basketball (later switched to gymnastics)

Maggie:  Gymnastics

Masin:  Synchronized Swimming

Miller:  Swimming (originally golf, until he heard it wasn't an Olympic sport)

Andy: Swimming

Katie:  "Ball"

Rock Painting

Coming back from fishing at the docks

Birthday princess

Waiting for their cupcakes

Singing Happy Birthday

Katie, of course, picked the cupcake with the most m&m's

Beach and boat time

New Bedrooms!

I officially am in nesting mode.  This past week was spent going through clothes, organizing the upstairs, and switching bedrooms.  Andy was very excited to sleep in his new bedroom.  I didn't sleep much as he kept yelling downstairs at all of his new discoveries...every car that drove by, new sounds, etc.  Such a big boy!  We didn't have Katie sleep in her new big girl bed yet as we are going to transition one at a time, and I am holding on to her being contained in a crib as long as I can.  She already is going into her bedroom and opening the drawers and dumping her clothes on the ground...something Andy did as well.  One of the things that gets me the most as a mom...spending time washing, folding, and putting clothes away...to have it all undone in about 2 minutes.  Regardless, she looks pretty excited to be in her big girl room.

Andy's theme is a beachy them...bookshelf made from wood from the beaches on Whidbey and an old oar from the Livingston.

Katie's theme is...Purple.  For some reason, that has been her color from birth.

"Mom, stop taking pictures...I want to play!"

Nightmares

Andy has been waking up about once a week - screaming for mommy or daddy.  Usually, he falls quickly back to sleep after we reach him and doesn't remember why he was screaming in the first place.  The other day, the following conversation took place while we were playing with his cars/ferry boat:

Andy:  Mom, remember when we drove on the water?
Me:  You mean when we were riding in the inner-tube on the water behind the Sea Doo?
Andy:  No, when we drove the car on the water?
Me:  You mean when we drove our car on the ferry boat up to Whidbey?
Andy:  No, when you drove your car INTO the water?
Me:  No, Andy, did you have a dream about this last night?
Andy:  Yes
Me:  Were you scared?
Andy:  No, mom, I was brave (at this point, my heart aches).  And my head was still above water.  I could still breath.
Me:  Oh buddy, did we climb out of the car after we went in the water?
Andy:  No, mom.  I was buckled in my car seat.  How do people get out of their cars when they drive into the water?
Me:  Well, I would have used my mommy powers to get us out safely.
Andy:  No, I mean, how do cars get out of the water once they drive in the water?
Me:  There are special machines that have to lift cars out of the water.
Andy:  What is the name of the machine?
Me:  I'm not sure
Andy:  Is it called the car-picker-out-of-the-water machine?
Me:  Probably close to that.
Andy:  Cool, I am going to play with me cars.

Another Gamma Phi gathering

We were lucky to have a few visitors from out of town recently.  Katie was in town from Chicago, so we got together for a dinner out while she was in town.  So great to see you Katie - looking forward to getting the kids together the next time you're in town!  We went to the Barking Dog in Ballard.  Great spot.

Sweet Charlotte

I feel so lucky to be an auntie to this girl.  Carleigh and Allen are such great parents and have been such wonderful supporters of our children.  Looking forward to many memories with this girl!  This photo was taken at Steph's and Randy's engagement party (so excited for their big day!!).  I brought my camera, but forgot to take any pictures.  Thanks for the photo!

Gamma Phi Gathering

Theresa and Jaime were in town, so Courtney hosted a gathering with girlfriends and our kids.  It was a little crazy, but so great to see everyone.  Andy was the lucky boy out of a group of 10 little girls.  Some day he'll appreciate it : )

All of the girls



Baby G #3 - 20 Weeks

We had our 20 week ultrasound and received great news.  The tear has not progressed and may even begin to absorb back into the placenta.  Our baby girl is growing in the 75%, which is great news and confirms that she has not been impacted by the damaged placenta.  She was VERY active.  We are so thankful and hope she continues to grow, grow, grow!

Oh Andy...

I received an e-mail from Babycenter entitled, "What Parents can learn from the Sandusky Case."  It was a good reminder for me that it's important to talk to kids at an early age about how to keep lines of communication open.  There are 7 tips and many comments in the article giving good insight.  So I decided to have a conversation with Andy.  We talked about communication and sharing and not having secrets and I felt good about how he was responding.  Then we talked about good touching and bad touching and it went something like this:

Me:  Andy, you know boys have a penis and girls have a vagina, right?
Andy:  Yep, I have a penis and daddy has a penis and you have a vagina and Katie has a vagina.
Me:  Yep.  And you know that it's only okay for you to touch your own penis, unless mommy and daddy are helping you in the bathtub or shower or helping you go potty, right?
Andy:  Mmm, Hmmm (at this point I am not sure if this conversation is sinking in at all).
Me:  Just like it's only okay for Katie to touch her vagina unless mommy and daddy are helping her in the bathtub or shower or changing her diaper.
Andy:  Mommmmm (giving a look like I am CRAZY), Katie doesn't touch her vagina...it's always full of poop!

And that was the end of our conversation.  I guess Andy has witnessed me changing too many poopy diapers.  Ahhhh, 3 year olds.

Callie's Coffee

So proud of Callie and the Lentz family for launching Callie's Coffee.  It has been so exciting to watch this transform!  Looking forward to what the future holds.

 

Another Whidbey Weekend!

With the nice weather, it's hard to rationalize being anywhere else than on Whidbey during a summer weekend.  So we headed up again for a great weekend!

The slip and slide is a sure sign of summer

Summer Nights

First rides on the Sea Doo

Henry in heaven

Giving daddy a high-five from the beach

Sand Castles

And first trip out on the fishing boat

4th of July: Pirates

Captain Jack Sparrow made his annual appearance in Sandy Hook.  The kids looked adorable in their pirate gear and had fun searching for the buried treasure.

Pirate Andy

All of the Pirates

The boys

Figuring out the map

Thumbs up Pirate face

Digging for treasure

GOLD!

Enjoying the chocolate